Clothesline device



CLOTHESLINE DEVICE Filed May 8, 19:55 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 26' I9 2? 76 50 ZY/ .6. M 23 27 78 9/ g9 g5 A 2 0 l n 7A Z79. '7. 29 Eugene 6. PH ej/d e gz ATTORNEY June 1934- E. c. PFLEIDER CLOTHESLINE] DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 8, 1953 Eugen (Z. PfZe v' fg gzz ATTORNEY Patented June 1 2, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

This invention relates to clothesline devices and has for the primary object, the provision of means for operating an endless clothesline to feed in and out the line from a given point with a minimum efiort on the part of the operator and which will automatically maintain the line free of slack and will yield to compensate for shrinkage in the line and when the latter is subjected to excessive loads to prevent breakage or injury to the line.

Another object of this invention is the provision of means for manually adjusting the tension means which acts on the line so that the action of said tension means may be varied to meet difierent operating conditions.

A further object of this invention is the provision of means for permitting the endless line to travel in either direction as long as operated in a desired direction, thereby permitting the line from a given point to be cleaned for removing dirt and other foreign matter which may be thereon. With these and other objects in View this invention consists in certain novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts to be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

For a complete understanding of my invention, reference is to be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view illustrating a clothesline device constructed in accordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2--2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a similar view taken on the line 33 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view illustrating the manual adjustment to the device.

Figure 5 is a bottom plan view of the device.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating the coupling between the adjacent ends of the endless line.

Figure '7 is an end view illustrating one of the coupling elements.

Figure 8 is a sectional view showing a modification of the coupling.

Figure 9 is a sectional View taken on the line 99 of Figure 8.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the numeral 1 indicates a casing connected to a support 2 by hinges 3 so as to have a limited swinging movement relative to the support. One wall of the casing is partially open to re- (01. es a ceive an endless clothesline 4, the runs thereof being indicated by the characters 5 and 6. It is to be understood that the clothesline 4 is trained over a pulley located at a remote point to the support 2 and the runs enter the casing 1 and pass over guide pulleys 7 and 8 journaled in the casing and also over a tensioning pulley 9 journaled to a bracket 10 carried by a slidably supported rod 11. The rod 11 is secured to a slide 12 by brackets 13 which permit the rod' to have a sliding movement with respect to the V slide. The brackets 13 are spaced from each other and one of said brackets 13 is spaced from the bracket 10. A coil spring 14 is mounted on the rod 11 between one of the brackets 13 and the bracket 10 to cushioningly support the tension roller 9. A coil spring 15 is mounted on the rod 11 and bears at one end against the pin 13 secured to the rod. 11 and after a certain compression of the spring 14 during the operation of the device engages with the uppermost bracket 13 so it will cooperate with the spring 14 in resisting the movement of the rod 11 to take care of excessive loads on the clothesline of the device. The brackets 13 are secured to the slide by fasteners 16 and the slide operates between walls of the casing and guides 17 secured to opposite walls of the casing. The slide 12 is limited in its endwise movement by stops 18 carried by the casing.

The casing 1 at its lower end carries a housing 19 through which extends an operating chain or other flexible element 20 which has one end attached to the slide 12 and its other end carries a finger piece 21 located exteriorly of the housing 19. A wear plate 22 engages the chain where the latter passes through the housing by way of a slot 23. A dog 24 is pivoted to the housing with its bill 25 operating in the slot 23 to engage the chain for forcing the latter against the wear plate and thereby holding the chain at various adjusted positions and consequently adjusting and holding the slide in varied positions endwise of the casing l. Springs 26 normally urge the bill of the dog into engagement with the chain while the opposite end of the dog is equipped with a finger piece 27 extending outwardly of the housing whereby a person may readily disengage the dog from the chain when desired. Each spring 26 is first bent about the pivot of the dog and has one the housing and bent to engage one wall of said housing for the purpose of anchoring the spring.

The clothesline 4 is constructed from a single length of material and the ends thereof are received in tapered sleeves 28 and are wedged against the walls of the sleeve by threaded wedges or fasteners 29, the heads of which are threaded to receive set bolts 30. The sleeves are apertured to receive the offset ends of interconnected U-shaped links 31. The set bolts or the heads thereof prevent the offset ends of the links from moving out of their respective apertures of the sleeves but which will permit the links to be detached from the sleeves when desiring to uncouple the ends of the clothesline. The links 31 are arranged at rightangles to each other and lie in a plane within the outer walls of the sleeves so as not to catch in or interfere with the pulleys supporting the clothesline during the movement of the line over the pulleys. This form of coupling permits the line to be moved in any given direction as long as desired by the operator and by this arrangement it permits the operator to clean or remove foreign matter from the entire line.

The springs 14 and 15 on the movable rod 11 maintain the line 4 free of slack through the tension pulley 9'. However, when the line is subjected to strain or heavy loads the springs Will yield, allowing movement of the tension pulley 9 towards the pulleys '7 and 8 sufficient to prevent breaking or injury of the line from the excessive lead. A line when kept free of slack automatically by this device and when subjected to atmospheric conditions or rain will shrink and to compensate for this shrinkage the ten sion pulley 9- may move against the action of the prin 1.4-

By sliding the slide 12 through the manipulation of the chain 20, the location of the. tension pulley 9; with respect to the pulleys 7 and 8 may be varied, thereby permitting the device to be manually adjusted to take care of slack of the line which will not be taken up through the action of the springs and also the adjusting of the slide. 12 permits the device to be adjusted for accommodating lines that may vary somewhat in their lengths;

As shown in Figures 8 and 9 the ends of the line may have a suitable abrasive material 32 placed thereabout for engagement with the inner walls of the sleeves 28 to aid in preventing slipping of the ends of the line with respect to the sleeves.

A device constructed in accordance with the foregoing will be simple and practical in operation and economical to manufacture and maintain in operation and the casing is so constructed that the parts located therein will be protected against weather elements, thereby increasing the life of the device. The coupling employed in the line is preferably constructed of non-rusting material.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that minor changes in construction, combination and arrangement of parts may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, as claimed.

Having described the invention, I claim:

1 A clothesline device comprising a casing to receive the runs of an endless clothesline, guide pulleys. in the casing engaging the runs of a clothesline, a tension pulley in the casing with the clothesline trained thereover, a slide slidably mounted in the casing, a rod carried by said slide, a journal for the tension pulley carried by said rod, expansion springs on the rod urging the tension pulley to remove slack from the line, and means for adjusting the slide ,Within the casing.

2. A clothesline device comprising a casing to receive the runs of an endless clothesline, guide pulleys in the casing engaging the runs of a clothesline, a tension pulley in the casing with the clothesline trained thereover, a slide slidably mounted in the casing, a rod carried by said slide, a journal for the tension pulley carried by said rod, expansion springs on the rod urging the tension pulley to remove slack from the line, a flexible element connected with the slide and extending exteriorly of thexcasing for manual EUGENE C. PFLEIDER. 

